OBS is a free / open source program that captures or generates video, so you can stream or upload to Youtube or whatever. I use it to keep a two-minute replay buffer while we play CS:GO, so that if anything happens in a given round, I can hit the "dump" button and it saves a video of the last two minutes. I can also simply record a single long video (and OBS can do the single video and the replay buffer simultaneously).
Alternatively, OBS can stream to Twitch or any other streaming service. I never stream on Twitch anymore because as far as I can tell, OBS can only run one configuration at a time. So if I set my quality low enough to live-stream, my replay clips would also be very low-quality; if I leave settings on high-quality that I use for replays, it would try to stream that to Twitch and I wouldn't have the upload bandwidth for it. I also don't stream on Twitch because that's silly and nobody would watch.
Anyway, sometimes in CS:GO I miss stuff because I'm still alive or I'm speccing another person and the stuff happens elsewhere. I figure if anything, I'm more likely to miss stuff in GTA5, so I'm making this tutorial so that everyone can record if they want. I'm going to specify the settings I use for replays, not for Twitch.
1. Download and install OBS. The website is
https://obsproject.com/ . Don't let "beta" versions scare you, just install whatever is latest. They update it pretty consistently. Note: it may require you to install some DirectX stuff. Go ahead and do that, but beware of Microsoft's stupid bullshit "install the Bing search bar" shit.
2. Run OBS, and prepare to change a bunch of boring settings. Go to the Settings menu and select Settings. SETTINGS
The Settings window has a bunch of sections to it. I'll run through them in order.
GENERAL
Setting Profile: Change this from "Untitled" to something else, like "Hogg's CSGO Replay Config." Click "Rename" to save this new name.
ENCODING
Encoder: I use x264, but I don't have an Nvidia card. If you have an Nvidia you might want NVENC instead.
Use CBR: At first, check this. Eventually you'll uncheck it but first you need to make sure OBS won't kill your shit.
Max Bitrate (kb/s): This is the main setting that will affect your system's performance and your video quality. I have it on 40,000 for my CSGO replays, and that seems to be good enough video quality without making my system choke. But your mileage may vary.
Audio Encoding: I can't remember if I changed any of these from default. AAC, 48kHz, 128 bitrate, and stereo should be good.
BROADCAST SETTINGS
Mode: File Output Only.
File Path: This is where recordings (the single long videos files, not replays) will go. Choose a folder where you're sure you have disk space. If you have room on an SSD, obviously that's preferable, but you don't want to fill up your disk either. These video clips don't occupy a lot of space (maybe 50MB for two minutes) but just make sure you're not going to fill up your disk. Once you've chosen your folder, replace ".flv" with "$T-recording.mp4". This makes it so your video files will be saved with a date and time stamp, like "20150413-1537-recording.mp4." It also switches from stupid FLV to MP4. So what I have in my file path is "D:\OBS\$T-recording.mp4".
Replay Buffer length (seconds): I have this one 120 because CS:GO rounds are two minutes long. It seems like a pretty good length in general to capture shenanigans, but feel free to adjust.
Replay Buffer File Path: This is where your replay clips will be saved when you hit the "dump" button. It can be the same as "File Path" box as long as you specify a different filename. So I have "D:\OBS\$T-replay.mp4" in mine.
VIDEO
Video Adapter: If you have more than one, make sure you choose the appropriate one that will be displaying your game.
Base Resolution: You can either use "Custom" and manually set the resolution at which you run, or chose "Monitor" and it will automatically set it to the resolution of the monitor you choose.
Resolution Downscale: I use this so that my files don't end up ridiculously huge. I put it on 1.50 and the videos still have plenty of resolution for YouTube viewing purposes. Most of you probably have 1920x1080 monitors, so using a setting of 1.5 will downscale from 1080 to 720.
Filter: Bilinear
FPS: I use 30. You could use 60 or whatever if that's what you play at and it doesn't kill your computer, but I don't think it's really necessary for replays.
AUDIO
Desktop Audio Device: Choose the right device for this and for the Microphone, just to prevent anything stupid like OBS using a webcam microphone or something. I left the rest of the settings on default.
HOTKEYS
Use Push-to-Talk: Check this box.
Push-to-Talk: Set this to your Mumble key, and set Push-to-Talk 2 to whatever key you use in-game. That way, whether you're speaking in Mumble or in-game, OBS will record it.
Save Replay Buffer: This will be your "Dump button." Mine is Ctrl+Home, which is why I sometimes randomly crouch in CS:GO.
ADVANCED
Todo: fill this in later
Everything else is default. Apply / OK to save your settings and go back to the main window.
(Note: If you plan to stream on Twitch, then just create a different profile under the "General" section of Settings. A profile is the collection of all of the settings, so if you have multiple profiles you can easily switch between different settings, e.g. low-quality for Twitch vs. higher-quality for replays.)
3. In the main window you see two boxes, Scenes and Sources. A "Source" is some video source that OBS is capturing. E.g. you can add CS:GO as a source, or have it capture an entire monitor, or capture from a webcam. For replay purposes, all you need to add is the game that you're capturing. So if it's CS:GO, fire up CS:GO and then alt-tab back to OBS. Right-click in the Sources window and go to Add->Game Capture. Name it csgo. In the "Select Application" dropdown menu, the csgo process should already be selected. If not, just find it and select it, then press OK.
Now make sure the "csgo" source is checked, and click the "Preview Stream" button. The large blank part of the window should now start showing what's happening in CSGO, and the sound volume meter will light up if sound is playing. Press your push-to-talk button and the mic volume meter should light up.
4. The configuration is all done! Now anytime you play CSGO (or whatever game), just run OBS, make sure the appropriate Source is selected, and begin recording. You can click the "Start Recording" button if you want one long video. You can also (or instead) click the drop-down arrow on that button, and click "Start Replay Buffer." Recordings will be saved automatically in the location you specified, and replays will be saved there when you hit your dump hotkey.
When it's time to upload them to you YouTube, you can either edit them locally (I use Windows Movie Maker) or use YouTube's editing features.
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